Aquatic Studies
Aquatic Studies
Research in aquatic ecology at Harvard Forest addresses long-standing questions about the ways that physical environment interacts with biology to influence the distributions and abundance of organisms. Studies are underway in a variety of freshwater environments including lakes, ponds, and wetlands on Cape Cod, small headwater streams in central Massachusetts, and vernal pools across the state. We are examining how hydrology, water quality, historic and current land use, substrate, and vegetation affect invertebrate community composition and trophic structure. Temporal variation in the biota, particularly in relation to climate and its influence on hydrology, is of particular interest. Identification of indicator organisms or groups of organisms that may help resource managers to detect long-term change, or that may be readily applied by conservation commissions and other volunteer organizations involved in identifying waters that are important as wildlife habitat, is another focus. A new project looking at how streams and their fauna are affected by the destruction of hemlock by an introduced insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid, was started in 2003. This research is closely coordinated with the ongoing studies of forest change in response to adelgid-induced hemlock decline.